So that your faith...

Read 1 Peter 1:7

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We’re able to rejoice in “trials of all kinds” (6) partly because we have the hope of heaven, when all tears and suffering will be ended (Rev.21:4). But it’s not just that there’s something better ahead – rather, all our present struggles are for a purpose. They come “so that” our faith may be tested and enhanced.

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Paul likewise writes that “we share in Christ’s sufferings in order that we might share in his glory” (Rom.8:18) – our current troubles seem tough but they “are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor.4:17). That’s because our faith is of greater value to us than anything else. All material riches will be lost when we die but “through faith” we have an everlasting salvation and inheritance (4-5).

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God uses our sufferings to refine and mature our faith (Is.48:10; Rom.5:3; Jas.1:2-4). In this way we know that our faith is genuine and that it will one day be rewarded. When Jesus and his salvation are revealed, all the trials of this life will finally make sense as we see what they have achieved in us. Not only will God be honoured and praised for that, but we too will receive his well-done for our faithfulness and our endurance (Mt.25:21).